A series of missteps cost El Diego his job

• Lack of self criticism: He did not take responsibility for the Germany defeat. In fact, he did not even want to review the match.

• Incommunicado: He did not communicate with Julio Grondona since his return two weeks ago from the World Cup.

• Squandered public support: 10,000 fans cheered his return from SA but he was unable to turn that to his advantage.

• My way or the highway: The AFA wanted to include new assistants to help with coaching. Maradona refused to entertain the idea.

• The trip to Venezuela: Rather than negotiate the terms of his contract, Maradona decided to spend his time with Hugo Chavez.

Behind the scenes, it is Carlos Bilardo who seems to have objected strongly to Maradona's current set of assistants and support staff, which swung Julio Grondona's decision.

Maradona's end is full of loose threads and entanglements. He will be back because it appears likely that the nation and the Argentinian government are desperate for this telenovela to go on. His image needs rehabilitation.

The other reason is that there are simply no suitable candidates to step up. Jorge Luis Borges might have been alluding to this sort of phantasm in his fictional world of "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius".